US vinyl sales hit record 13.1 million in 2016, Twenty One Pilots beat Bowie to the top spot: Vinyl sales in the US have risen for an eleventh consecutive year, according to new data released by Nielsen Music and reported by Billboard. Up 10% on 2015, 13.1 million units were sold across the United States in the last twelve months, comprising 6.5% of all albums sold in 2016 and 11% of all physical albums sold. However, 2016 did record the lowest percentage increase year-on-year for the format since 2006. Unsurprisingly rock continued to be the strongest performing genre, with 69% of the sales, although the top 10 best selling vinyl albums of 2016 reflected a wider spread.
Record Store Day Announces 10-Year Celebration, Annual event supporting independent retailers plots 2017 date: Record Store Day will celebrate its 10th anniversary Sunday April 22nd, 2017. The annual event seeks to promote brick-and-mortar music shops through special vinyl and CD releases issued by an array of artists. Record Store Day (RSD) was created in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees. Since 2008, RSD now includes 1,400 participating independent stores in the U.S. and thousands more globally. While the major labels have since joined the celebration, independent labels remain the crux of RSD, providing 60 percent of the official releases in 2015.
AZPX x Grind for Life Fund Raising Raffle: January is Rob’s birthday month and he likes to celebrate no other way than paying it forward. Rob’s favorite charity is Mike Roger’s GrindforLife.org. Grind for Life helps people with cancer. Period. No 10K run, no pink corporate bullshit. Just one bad ass skateboarding cancer survivor handing straight up cash to families of cancer patients so they can travel for treatments…The prize is pretty fucking cool. ‘Prevent This Tragedy‘ Vol. 1 of 4 7″ Compilation from 2000. Pretty rare but not super rare. First off, who the hell was releasing vinyl in 2000? Element Records, that’s who. Secondly, this thing comes with CLEAR GRIP TAPE glued to the cover. Thirdly, purple marbled vinyl? Fuck yes!
Last Sam the Record Man store wants to be designated a tourist attraction, Hundreds sign the petition in support of the store situated at Belleville’s Quinte Mall: It’s not unusual for shoppers at Belleville’s Quinte Mall to stop in their tracks when they spot Spencer Destun’s store. After Sam the Record Man shut the doors to its famed Yonge Street location years ago, most people assumed the business was dead, but now a petition launched by Destun is attempting to make sure people know its last surviving location is still around, just two hours east of Toronto. The petition, which so far has been signed by hundreds of people in store and dozens online, is asking for the store to be given a tourist attraction designation, complete with a province-issued sign along the highway.
Despite upturn in record sales, Calgary’s Canada Boy Vinyl closing its doors: Canada Boy Vinyl launched in 2015 gaining notoriety for it’s ‘Dirtbag Special’ which allowed musicians to press records without test pressings. At the moment the closing is a mystery but apparently there is an explaination coming Jan 9th outlined in the statement below. Things had been looking up for the Calgary company after it partnered with Viryl technologies in Toronto to bloster vinyl production.
Young Kings Record Store Pops Up at Mahall’s: The little Hingetown shop, which traffics in super-cool new and used vinyl, will be carrying its crates into Mahall’s Locker Room where you can treat yourself to some new sounds for a new year. DJ Red-I will be spinning while you’re browsing and they are promising performances by other special guests. It’s free. Go to their Facebook page to check out where else you can find them.
Here’s why the charm of vinyl records evades Indian music lovers: Speaking about the trend, Vikram Bhat, the owner of Mahatobar Distribution in Bengaluru, says, “The vinyl records industry has seen a remarkable growth in its demand over the past four years. Thanks to the availability of advanced record players, music lovers are now rekindling their love for the age-old gems. However, when it comes to the demand-supply regime in India, a number of factors come under the purview. Compared to the US and the UK, the number of stores selling vinyl albums are still very few here.
A Turntable Reborn Turns Its Back on Its Hip-Hop Legacy: The turntable, the Technics SL-1200, may not enjoy the name recognition of, say, Fender electric guitars or Steinway pianos. But if you have watched a D.J. scratching furiously behind a rapper in the last few decades, you have almost certainly seen one, or, more likely, a deftly manipulated pair. “It’s the go-to,” said Darby Wheeler, a documentary filmmaker whose recent series for Netflix, “Hip-Hop Evolution,” keeps avid SL-1200 spotters busy. The turntables pop up everywhere — on concert stages and album covers and in the studios of genre legends like Grandmaster Flash.
Op-Ed: Why is vinyl making a comeback? ‘Nostalgia’ doesn’t quite cut it: When I buy artisanal sourdough, it’s not because of some misplaced fear of bakery science, but because that crusty, airy, wonderful loaf just tastes so much better than Wonder bread. My passion for collecting records is driven by the same judgment. It was only after I uploaded my CD collection to iTunes, then abandoned that for the endless buffet of streaming, that the unseen benefits of listening to vinyl became apparent. All the digital inventions (MP3s, iPods, Wi-Fi, cloud computing) that brought me free, disembodied music anywhere, anytime, made me value music I can own, display, touch and feel with all my senses. To the millions of consumers worldwide who have resurrected the record industry over the past few years, I suspect the feeling is mutual. To us, the return of vinyl — even as we listen to streaming services on the drive to work — represents not regression, but progress.
The Gearbox Automatic will sync your vinyl with Spotify: Choosing between vinyl and digital music is often a question of personal taste; vinyl may offer better sound quality than some streaming services, but digital streaming is certainly more convenient. Vinyl is expensive, digital is usually cheaper. However, Gearbox Records, a vinyl-led record label and production company, is doing its best to deliver the best of both worlds by crowdfunding the ‘Gearbox Automatic’ – a turntable that synchronises with your Spotify playlists.
